First Published April 2003

Background

Industrial Automation (IA) was perceived to be a difficult technical module within the mechanical engineering diploma.

Increasingly the teaching team felt that students, on completing the module, failed to develop a level of understanding and competency that would serve them well in their future workplace. Many students displayed a lack of interest, motivation or confidence in applying the knowledge or skills. They perceived the module to be difficult and boring. In July 2001, the teaching team proposed a major revamp in the delivery of the module and considered a hybrid problem-based learning (PBL) approach.

A hybrid PBL approach was adopted, as students had absolutely no knowledge of industrial automation and had yet to develop their independent learning skills. They were unable to understand how the knowledge imparted to them may be applied in practice and especially in an industrial setting. Thus the team felt that a purist approach to PBL, whereby students had to find out what they needed to know and then learn on their own, might prove too arduous a task leading to potential disastrous results and ultimately rejection by both staff and students.

The Hybrid PBL Implementation

In this hybrid system, traditional lecture/tutorial/practical lessons would still be conducted at the beginning of the semester, but more emphasis would be placed on students’ understanding of the basics and developing their confidence to solve the PBL problem later on.

Teaching was moved from classroom to laboratory for topics which students normally had difficulty understanding, such as the hardware components and basic circuit design. Simulation software and video clips were also used to complement learning. The module culminated in students solving a PBL problem set in the real-world context to integrate the knowledge and skills acquired and promote deep learning.

The PBL problem given was a commonly found industrial application of a chemical cleaning line involving dipping parts into tanks of chemical solutions. It involved:

1. The design of a control circuit for the cleaning line which could include any forms of fringe conditions defined by the students. The control circuits that the students designed were much more complicated than those that they had learnt in the classroom as owing to time constraints, these classroom problems had to normally be confined to very narrow applications such as four-step sequences nominally. These narrow applications did not prepare them for real-life automation problems.
2. The sizing and selection of appropriate types of cylinder, switches, sensors and other control elements from the suppliers’ catalogs or websites. These were deliberately not taught so that students had to explore and search for information based on the basic knowledge they had acquired.
3. The testing of the control circuit. During the testing stage, students had to wire up the circuit, test and troubleshoot it systematically for faults and modify it, where necessary.

Experiences Gained

From the three semesters of hybrid PBL implementation for Diploma Courses in Mechanical (ME), Mechatronic (MTE) and Engineering Informatics (EI), the following factors are important for a successful implementation:

1. Sufficient time-tabled hours must be allocated for students to carry out the project.
2. Enough resources and equipment must be provided for students to implement their project.
3. Facilitators must be familiar and ready to impart the knowledge of the related computer resources used in the project, so students can handle the software in the shortest possible time.
4. Breaking the problem into phases so that students learn to manage their time and resources efficiently.
5. Students’ interest in the project must be sufficiently aroused and their confidence in solving the problem developed. If students are sufficiently motivated and confident, they are not likely to look for model answers or to copy from other groups.
6. Students are not to be given solutions but rather be guided to solve the problem.
7. Facilitators should not take ownership of the problem. Thus it is important that students are sufficiently prepared and confident to take on the task themselves.
8. Grouping of students is very important. Facilitators need to manage the groups and ensure that there are no free-riders.
9. Staff’s perception of the students must change so that they dare to stretch the students and help them develop the perseverance to go on trying till they solved the problem.
10. Support from the teaching staff, technical support staff and management are also important.

Results of the Implementation

Surveys were conducted after each semester of implementation to obtain feedback from students in order to fine-tune the hybrid PBL model. Results showed that the hybrid PBL approach provided a more active learning experience for the students. Some pertinent points obtained from the survey of second implementation are:

1. 89.6% of students felt that they understood the module better after going through the project.
2. 90.9% of students expressed that they learnt more using PBL method.
3. 86.8% of students preferred to learn the whole module in PBL way.
4. More than 90% of students were comfortable working in groups, sharing information and asking others for help.
5. Some useful comments given by students, such as
• good and effective method
• clear a lot of our doubt
• have an overview of how automation is implemented
• have sense of fulfillment at the end of project, etc.
6. Comments given by staff:
   • encourage thinking, improve learning and increase confidence
   • formal training of method and facilitating skills are required
   • better understanding of students’ learning problems and capabilities
   • provide opportunities for students to develop other skills
   • students are able to solve problems that are not clearly defined, complicated and open-ended
   • need more effort and time, etc.

Conclusion

For the students, IA is the first encounter with a PBL approach to learning. However, through the process of design, implementation, problem solving and evaluation of possible alternative solutions, students developed certain generic skills that would be relevant and useful to them in the future workplace:

• problem solving skills,
• communication skills,
• time management skills,
• research and IT skills,
• teamwork,
• self-directed learning, and
• life-long learning.

Authors

Tan Cheng Nee
Senior Lecturer,
School Of Mechanical Engineering
Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Tay Mui Hua
Lecturer,
School Of Mechanical Engineering
Ngee Ann Polytechnic